UNZIPPED

This delightfully playful documentary takes us on a romp through the New York fashion world with the irrepressible and engaging designer Isaac Mizrahi. The film's action centres around the swirl of creative energy Isaac Mizrahi and his staff are pumping into preparing the '94 fall collection.

Amidst the chaos, Mizrahi (a boyishly cute, chubby Jewish queen from Brooklyn with a Medusa-like shock of hair) lets loose a barrage of bitchy, yet not vicious, one-liners, deadly accurate impersonations of celebrities, quotes from Hollywood movies and witty social critiques.

The film culminates with the Big Show in New York, which, in Mizrahi's case, is a brilliant piece of performance art featuring a transparent scrim that reveals the backstage chaos to the gathered celebs.

The star throughout is the impish motormouth Mizrahi - a focus that makes his assistants and employees mere window-dressing. Also featured are his opinionated mother, Sarah Bernhard and the inevitable parade of supermodels.

Filmed by Mizrahi's former lover, fashion photographer Keeve, Unzipped is playful, funny and revealing, and succeeds despite its relentless obtrusive and self-consciously arty style that features annoying jagged camera work, frenetic jump cuts and a roving camera intent on obscuring its images.